Oil Drip Timer

Liquid Oil Drip Timer

"Oil & water do not mix" as the old adage goes. It's true, but they can work alongside one another to produce something beautiful.

In 1963 the first lava lamps went on the market. Designed by Edward Craven-Walker, they were inspired by a timer much like these he saw in a pub in Dorset, England.

Whilst lava lamps use heat to make bubbles of wax form and rise, these timers need nothing more than gravity.

The liquid is held in two separate cells of two different colours and slightly different densities. The colours drift down at slightly different rates, illuminated by ambient light shining through the translucent body of the timer, undulating slowly on their journey towards the bottom.

For up to 3 minutes we can calm ourselves in the simple beauty of physics, nature, and colour, then turn it over and enjoy it again and again, different every time.